One Day At a Time
by liliflowerxoxo
Summary: A new version of the original. Set after the show and Hana is older. Hana is diagnosed with diabetes and learns how to live with it. Very AU and OOC Part of my Disney/One Last Wish series. (Read my profile for more info on the series)
1. Chapter 1

Hana was not feeling well. For the past several weeks she had been experiencing fatigue and mood changes. One minute she would be fine then she would suddenly feel irritable. Now lately she had been feeling dizzy and faint. All she wanted to do was go home and sleep.

But unfortunately she had to stay for two hours. With a dance competition coming up in two weeks, the whole dance team was practicing like crazy. Ms. Dancer (yes that was her last name), wanted the whole team to put in 200%. If they win, then they got to compete in the state championships. Normally Hana would've been excited since this would be her first competition but not today.

Finally Ms. Dancer gave them a twenty minute break. Hana sat down and drank from her water bottle. She had been drinking a lot lately, probably from dehydration from practicing. It didn't seem like a big deal for her since she just joined the dance team last fall. But she didn't expect it to wear her down that much.

The twenty minutes felt like a minute. Before she knew it, break was over. The next hour dragged on. By the end, the entire team was exhausted. Hana was grateful when Ms. Dancer let them out a half hour early.

Hana was in her room finishing homework when her mother stopped by to remind her about her doctor appointment tomorrow. When her mother made the appointment a few days before, Hana initially protested. Now she was glad that her mother made the appointment. Maybe it was just a bad case of the flu or something harmless. Then she looked in the mirror. She looked terrible. Dark circles surrounded her eyes, making it look like she didn't sleep for weeks. Maybe dance team was more strenuous than she thought. She was probably overworking herself. Hana then looked at the clock and decided to sleep early tonight. Sleep might help her feel better.

The next morning they went to the doctor.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Sorry for the long delay. I'll try to update all my stories at once at the same time next time. Anyway i read some of the reviews and I hope I didn't make any glaring errors about diabetes. If I do, let me know. Enjoy!**

Hana laid down on the bed, struggling to come to terms with Dr. Malar's diagnosis.

Diabetes. She was a diabetic now.

"What you have, Hana, is Type 1 diabetes," Dr. Malar explained, "Your pancreas is unable to create a sufficient amount of insulin for your body. Insulin is a hormone which controls glucose levels in your body by causing cells to absorb it. Without insulin, glucose would build up in your bloodstream. As a result, your body would try to flush it out, which explains why you become dehydrated easily."

"How did it happen?" Hana asked. She didn't know much about diabetes except from what she heard from books and movies.

"Type 1 Diabetes is a genetic disease, which means it runs in your family, you biological family." Then he continued, "Because your body is unable to create sufficient amounts of insulin, there needs to be a way to put insulin in your body. In most cases, diabetics inject insulin with a syringe, insulin pump, or insulin pen. " He then went on about how insulin should be injected and how she had to be careful about her diet.

At the end of the discussion, Hana's mind was swimming with information. She knew Dr. Malar tried his best to help her understand her condition, but it was too confusing. She wasn't sure if she could handle a diet or manage her medication. If she wasn't careful, she could risk her health. The idea of injecting herself with a needle every day scared her.

The syringe was on the tray, the needle looked long and intimidating. There was no way she could do it.

"Don't be afraid," the nurse said, "The first time is always hard."

With a shaking hand, Hana took the syringe, wincing when the needle poked through her skin. Within seconds, it was over.

"See? It wasn't that bad." the nurse said. Still shaking, Hana nodded her head, hoping the nurse wouldn't see her fear.

The day she went home, she spent hours looking at pamphlets of information on diabetes. She could not wrap her mind around the fact that her life was going to change from now on. Insulin injections, blood sugar tests, regular checkups. She was now responsible for her health, forced to watch her insulin levels and her diet.

On her calendar across her bed there was a big circle on the 25th, the day of the competition. Hana was looking forward to that date and now she wasn't so sure. What if something happens to her during the competition? She could cause the whole team to lose! The idea of getting an insulin reaction, low blood sugar, scared her.

Then she tried to shake that thought out of her head. There was no use in worrying, she tried to tell herself. There was still a bit less than two weeks left before the big day. There was no way she could understand her diabetes overnight. All she could do was take it one day at a time.


	3. Chapter 3

Ever since her diagnosis two months ago, Hana's day involved injections, blood tests, and checkups. She wasn't sure how she was going to handle all the changes in her life but with the love and support of her family, it helped her a lot. Her friends were very understanding too. After some time, Hana had adjusted well to her new routine.

Unfortunately she decided to take a break from dancing. One reason, she said, was because she wanted time to adjust. The real reason was that she was afraid. Dr. Malar told her that she still could dance but she had to be more careful. Hana did go back to dance class a week after her diagnosis but on that day she experienced an insulin reaction.

It was a terrible feeling. She felt faint as the world around her blurred. Her body shook and she sat on the floor leaning against the wall. Hana didn't remember what happened after that but she remembered being given some orange juice to boost her blood sugar. After several finites she felt almost normal and managed to get up. Then Ms. Dancer called her mother to pick her up and take her home. That was the fist time Hana felt really scared. There was no way she was going to let that happen again.

One thing that helped her really cope was the diabetic support group. Lead by Dr. Malar, who, Hana later found out, was a diabetic himself, a group of kids ages 10-18 met together at the Middleton Community Center every Friday night. At first Hana didn't really want to go but at the insistence of her parents, she went.

She made numerous friends that day. Out of all the kids in the group, she connected with Clara Ianetti the most. Clara had been a diabetic since she was one and had to go to the hospital for kidney dialysis three times a week. Kidney failure was a complication of diabetes, especially if it wasn't managed properly. Hana felt bad for the girl but she seemed cheerful about it.

"Well, diabetes has always been a part of me." Clara said when she told Hana about her condition. "And the whole kidney thing." She shrugged. "It sucks but not everyone can say that they have their blood cleaned by a machine every other day."

"Can't they do anything about it?" Hana asked

"A kidney transplant's an option but I'm an only child and my parents can't be donors because they have other health problems so I'll have to be put on a waiting list." Clara grinned. "Besides, I'm not that bad off yet. Sure, having to be attached to a machine sucks, but there's worse." Hana couldn't help but grin too. Clara's optimistic personality was contagious.

After a week of begging, Hana and Clara's parents finally agreed to let the girls sleepover at Hana's house for the weekend. Clara had called on Monday earlier that week, saying that she had something urgent to tell her but it had to be a secret. When Hana pressed for questions, Clara just shrugged her off. Then she suggested that they could stay together for the weekend since there would be no school on Monday. Their parents were hesitant at first but they finally agreed.

By the end of the meeting on Friday, Clara looked like she was going to burst. Hana wondered what her secret was. Finally they got home and Clara rummaged in her overnight bag to pull out an envelope with the letters OLW engraved on it.

"So on Monday, I came in for dialysis. Then a nurse comes in and gives me this letter saying that it's for me." Clara opened the envelope and read the letter out loud.

_Dear Clara,_

_You don't know me, but I know about you, and because I do, I want to give you a special gift. Accompanying this letter is a certified check, my gift to you, with no strings attached, to spend on anything you want. No one knows about this gift except you, and you are free to tell anyone you want._

_Who I am isn't really important, only that you and I have much in common. Through no fault of our own, we have endured pain and isolation and have spent many days in a hospital feeling lonely and scared. I hoped for a miracle, but most of all I hoped for someone to truly understand what I was going through._

_I can't make you live longer, I can't stop you from hurting. But I can give you one wish, as someone did for me. My wish helped me find purpose, faith, and courage._

_Friendship reaches beyond time, and the true miracle is in giving, not receiving. Use my gift to fulfill your wish._

_Your Forever Friend, JWC_

The Clara pulled out another piece of paper from the envelope. It was a check for $100,000 addressed to her. Hana gasped. "Who is JWC? Does your parents know about this?"

"They don't know about it yet." Clara said. "I looked up the One Last Wish foundation, which means it's legit. It's this foundation started by some guy name Richard Holloway, who dedicated it in memory of his friend Jenny Crawford, a.k.a., JWC. It doesn't say much about her except that she died of leukemia and her last wish was to start a foundation to help sick and dying kids. There's even this place called Jenny House which is like a camp for sick kids."

Hana didn't know what to say. She had never heard of the One Last Wish foundation. "What are you going to do with it?" she asked.

"I have no idea."

Hana picked up the check. "One hundred thousand dollars." she said slowly. "That is a lot of money. You could do so much with it."

"I know." Clara said, still unable to wrap her mind around it. "But why me? What makes me so special?"

"Everyone's special in their own way." Hana said.

"I don't know...being a recipient of some charity that reaches out to dying kids..." Clara trailed off. "I'm nowhere near dying! I don't even wanna think about dying!" That was the first time Clara had shown anger about her condition. Hana felt bad for her.

"I think you just lucked out on the lottery." She hoped to lift her friend's gloomy mood.

The blond haired girl smiled. "Well, at least I'm sorta rich now." She put the letter and check back in the envelope. "So, what do you wanna do?"

"You choose." Hana said. "You're the guest."

"What about a movie?"

"Sure!"

After a few minutes, they settled on a movie and watched it on Hana's computer. They didn't say anything else about the letter, but Hana could tell that Clara was still thinking about it.

**A/N: And here it is. I'm trying to update at least once a month depending on how my creative muse goes. By the way the letter is owned by Lurlene McDaniel and is from the One Last Wish series. The idea of Clara just popped into my head and I just made up her character as I wrote this chapter so I hope you like her! I never expected her to be the recipient of the letter. In fact, I wasn't thinking of putting the letter i this early. I originally wanted it to be Hana like in my original story but decided that it wouldn't make sense since she wasn't really dying. Okay, Clara isn't exactly dying either, but her situation's more serious. And if you're curious about the One Last Wish thing, I recommend that you read the series. If you want to know how the whole foundation started then read One Last Wish: The Legacy: Making Wishes Come True. The whole thing with the letter is pretty important and if you're following my other stories, the characters will receive the letter in future chapters. The letter is what will eventually bring them all together in another story which I will start working on after I finish this and the other three. Sorry for the long note but i just wanted to give an explanation about the letter. Thanks!**


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